Comments on: The point is this: If you’re widely admired, there must be something wrong with you

By: Kaus

Kaus — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:58:40 +0000

Craig, to summarize your argument, US Citizens were not allowed to buy US cars for the last 20 years? Is this ‘Tri-State’ you speak of located in The Ukraine to Moscow corridor?

By: redrover

redrover — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:23:01 +0000

Whatever you may think of the candidacy of Ralph Nader, Swede, he is not kidding about his positions on the issues.

Here is what he says about Free Trade:

NAFTA and the WTO make commercial trade supreme over environmental, labor, and consumer standards and need to be replaced with open agreements that pull up rather than pull down these standards.

These forms of secret autocratic governance and their detailed rules are corporate-managed trade that puts short-term corporate profits as the priority.

While global trade is a fact of life, trade policies must be open, democratic, and not strip-mine environmental, social and labor standards.

These latter standards should have their own international pull up treaties.

and here’s a link to his positions on the other issues of substance in this election:

http://www.votenader.org/issues/

Unlike the two major party candidates — who carefully nuance everything they say and end up making fools of those of us who actually believe that they stand for something besides self-glorification — Ralph Nader has been and continues to be the original and only genuine straight-talker running for president.

I voted for him twice and will do so again, and I’m proud of it.

By: Craig Knauss

Craig Knauss — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:54:13 +0000

It WAS about unfair trade practices. Where have you been for the last 20 years? All the U.S. manufacturers asked was the right to compete. If they failed because of “quality”, so be it. But they were denied the right to even compete. I did read Consumer Reports and they put too much emphasis on “fit and finish”. Back then I used to commute about 70 miles per day on the Tri-State Tollway. Even though only 18% of cars was Japanese, 1 out of 3 stalled vehicles was Japanese. Explain that. And do you remember the Datsuns of the 70s? Datsun meant “rust”. Vehicles not even two years old had rust HOLES, not spots, on them. Maybe Datsuns should have been barred from the U.S. Huh?

By: Kaus

Kaus — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:57:41 +0000

“Nothing to do with quality”…..Craig, perhaps you should read Consumer Reports for the last 20 years….you’ll find American Cars ranked below Japanese cars at every price point. Consumers buy Japanese because they are better….not because of unfair practices.

By: Craig Knauss

Craig Knauss — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:00:31 +0000

“Free trade killed industry?” Reagan’s version of it did. He had the U.S. practicing free trade while his Japanese buddies maintained restricted markets. The Japanese could sell their cars here, but we couldn’t sell ours there. And it had nothing to do with quality. He allowed foreign steel from places like Korea and South Africa to flood our markets, while U.S. companies went bankrupt. We could produce beef, corn, rices, etc., much cheaper than other countries, but their huge tariffs made our products unaffordable. It’s a good thing those countries didn’t sell airplanes or we would have lost that market as well. Free trade is great when all parties practice it. But that’s not what was done.

By: Pat Cunningham

Pat Cunningham — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:16:04 +0000

Yeah, but Michael Jackson is not going to defeat John McCain in the November election. Barack Obama is. And any time you want to bet he won’t, put your money where your mouth is, as the old saying goes.

By: kaus

kaus — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:04:01 +0000

Free trade killed industry? Or benefits gone wild by our addiction to entitlements and taxes to support them.

200,000 in a stadium to see Obama? So what…Michael Jackson can still fill a stadium for his freak show overseas.

By: Menlo Bob

Menlo Bob — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:07:34 +0000

‘Widely admired’, well, absent a resumé it certain couldn’t hurt.

By: Swede

Swede — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:43:58 +0000

I’m not crazy about either, to be honest. I think that Free Trade has taken a terrible toll on our manufacturing industries. We have a severe import/export balance. I don’t like Obama, but I do like his stance on Free Trade. I like McCain better, but don’t like his stance on Free Trade.

They both talk deficit, but, whomever is in office for the next four years will NOT make marked improvement there. We are absolutely overspent with no chance of even beginning to balance the budget, like Clinton did. Neither candidate, in our current condition, could do that in 8 years.

If Obama gets into office, we’ll really, start moving toward a socialistic government, however, if McCain takes office, I think we’ll be running in place like a bunch of Fred Flintstones (in his foot -powered car). I’m not convinced things will get better.

It’s just a bad time, all around.

Ralph Nader, anyone (kidding, of course)?

By: Orlando Clay

Orlando Clay — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:22:20 +0000

And if you’re widely hated, you must be doing something right.

At least that’s the way our friends on the right try to spin the decider-in-chief’s dismal 23% approval rating. Being hated by most of the free world means that Bush “sticks to his guns” no matter what and must be respected for not paying attention to what others think of him. Of course, the Bush apologists conveniently forget to mention the disastrous consequences that have occurred because of their failure-in-chief’s arrogance and ineptitude.

Obama = 200,000 in a stadium
McCain = 20 in the cheese aisle of a supermarket